Just one request: Don't work yourself to death. If you do and this remains unfinished I will figure out a way to hunt you down for building up my hopes for a brilliant game.
Lol I agree ill help you hunt him down.
He doesn't look like he is stopping any time soon
Worry ye not, I shall not be stopping (hear that, everyone? No need to come hunting!), though I actually have to take a couple of days off now as I'm heading home for a brief period, but everything will resume come Friday. Besides, way over 50% of 0.2.0 is now done, so November is still pretty definite. Maybe even before the 30th!
Oh, another brief series of questions!
How prominent will siege weaponry (ballistae, trebuchet, catapults, etc.) be in the game? Will we be able to use flaming ammunition? I think you've already answered yes and probably to these, but I don't totally recall.
More importantly, will limbs go flying and will they do damage to people they hit? I want to see a cadre of bandits flee in fear after the catapult I brought along for no reason scores a direct hit on their commander and his arm bitch slaps one of his fellow bandits from 30 feet away.
Will ladders and grappling hooks be implemented for scaling walls? Would a defender be able to dislodge them? And would someone playing an assassin be able to use said grappling hook to scale buildings and the like?
Grappling hooks made me think of alternative weapons such as bolas and the like. Are there any plans to include weaponry to trip up opponents/screw up their horses? How about nonlethal take-downs?
When battle lines crash, will there occasionally be pushing and shoving around prior to all out combat? For visual reference, when the Persians first engage the Spartans in 300.
Will your character gain titles and nicknames for his or her accolades/defining features? Like Leatra the One Eyed, or Mad King WraithLord?
Will character appearance change over time? Say, if your guy is always swinging that sword arm and charging through trees, will he become more muscular? If you got a king that does nothing but sit on his throne, will he eventually turn into fat lard man? (Fun fact, as a kid a few friends and I made a video by the title Fat Lard Man.) I highly doubt this one, as I figure it'd be nigh impossible to implement, at least without being too demanding, but I figured I'd ask anyway!
Is it apparent I spent a lot of time on public transportation today?
I so want to sig that
edit: the deed is done
also, an extension to the grappling hooks, how about good, wholesome ladders? and by an extension of extensions, boiling tar/ a hearty push on the people climbing said ladder?
@Man of Paper, limbs will not go flying, as he said that a few posts ago.
Excellent! In order:
Yes to ballista/catapult/trebuchet, and also early cannons of some description. Maybe additionally some esoteric and rare ones, early flamethrowers, grenades, etc.
@ Dutchling, TRUE, but limbs will be severed. However, if someone is, say, hit full-on by a catapult... there may be some flying limbs. Which is to say, I think there will be. But not many. And it'll be rare.
Yes to both; I imagine grappling hooks are many for individual/stealth characters, whilst ladders will be present for armies trying to reach a castle. Of course, as The Two Towers teaches us, the defenders will be able to see the ladder, look down, attack, etc...
I like the bolas idea greatly. It's on the list. There will be a full selection of throwing weapons at some point, I can guarantee that.
Yes, definitely re: pushing etc - combat, being brief and bloody, will have a lot of scrabbling, falling, desperate hits, fighting over weapons, losing footing on the ground, using environmental advantages,etc. It'll take a while to program, but I think it'll be worth it!
Titles I was intending to have, but I hadn't thought of nicknames - that's a great idea, I'll add that!
As much as I love the phrase Fat Lard Man, for the most part, no - you raise skills and stats through the skill trees, not through using them (to avoid farming etc). There are of course bonuses to specific skill tree gains for specific classes, and there will likely be books (or maybe artefacts...?) that will raise a skill or a stat or similar. There will also be a detailed page you can call up to describe your character, and that will certainly change over time. I could certainly implement a slight appearance change based on other factors, though... and maybe I will...
As for tar/pushing - I'm actually working on falling mechanics and implementing them into the current time system at the moment. As you fall, for instance, you see each turn pass by, and so combat will go on, or arrows will fly past, as you fall. You can currently watch the terrain fly past as you drop, but I think it'll look amazing in combat! So pushing would utilize that code, and I will definitely include that; I love the boiling tar idea. Which connects to TRAPS... but that's a topic for another time
.
In the mean time, a rather long and detailed blog entry about ruling, the Rule skill tree, and how to keep cities in line:
http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2012/11/06/city-state-mechanics/